Blitz chess?

Question

will it help improve my standard game . i seem to be able to defeat quite high ranked blitz players ( 1900 or so ) yet there's no way i can win against those people standard time controls.

Answer 1

No, it won't improve your standard game. I'm a Standard gamer. I once got away with a win against a 1600 + rated guy in Yahoo! Chess in a timed game. (Man was he pissed. My rating's 1300!). The point is, timed games, especially 1 - minute and 2 - minute games, don't improve strategic thinking on a high level. It just helps you stay on your toes, run your opponent's time down without losing.

The reason there is no way you can beat them on Standard time controls is because they have not developed that rating by crushing people in a time limit. They rock at Standard games and I know it. This is from a person who has 6 years + experience in online chess. You, on the other hand, have lived your entire life playing blitzkrieg, and so you fail to see the well - developed strategies a Standard game involves. You play from move - to - move. The 1900 + guys can do that too. But they can ALSO develop strategies, seeing many moves ahead. Which is something you cannot do.

Blitz chess may be entertaining, but the best player usually does not win. It is usually the fastest and not the best that win those games. That's why we're able to beat those above us. But ratings tell how good the player really is. The better player is the one who tries to win, not the one who moves fast and avoids loss. I lost to my cousin bro in a blitz game once. He had just started learning how the pieces move! He won purely because he moved fast and avoided checkmate! That's the secret to a Blitz game.

Conclusion: Blitz chess helps improve Blitz chess. If you win in those kind of games, stick to them. Standard games will destroy you. What I observe is that Pure Blitz players (like you) have serious trouble winning Standard games. So don't play a Standard game if you can help it.

Answer 2

Blitz chess probably improves your ability to survive time control brinkmanship in a standard game, in the sense that it makes you learn to make sensible moves rapidly and not get flummoxed if you cannot find an excellent move quickly.

World No 10. Michael Adams has this advice for that situation: "if you don't know what else to do, try and improve the position of your worst-placed piece".

You will probably make some unsound combinations at blitz speed, the question is whether your opponents can see how to refute them, at blitz speed, so you may well get away with them, and a few swindles too, but you need to ask yourself whether winning by unsound combinations is a satisfactory way to win.

i.e. whether it is doing your game any good.

Answer 3

As I told my students, Blitz chess helps you in Blitz chess. You end up playing blitz vs. him taking his time and I don't care if he is 800 points lower than you.

Sit on your hands. Seriously. The extra second as you get your hand out to move might be enough for you to remember to look for a better move than the obvious one.